New art gallery collaboration in Collingwood’s main street
Collingwood’s CBD just filled up a little more with the opening of Aorere Arts this weekend.
Situated at number 1 Tasman St, directly opposite the museum, the existence of this new 72sq/m building with its big front deck was made possible by the completion of the managers’ new residence in the adjoining Collingwood Motels. That freed up this unique piece of mainstreet to again become available for long term lease.
Colin and Merrill Coke of Ferntown have taken the opportunity to put a gallery on the site, and have combined with local artists Margaret Maloney of Parapara and Kathy Reilly of Motupipi to fill it with prints and paintings. These are all themed not only to “depict the essence of Collingwood and beyond”, but also to be “small and portable treasures”. Handmade paper products made by Margaret’s husband, Adrian Maloney, will also be on sale.
Kathy Reilly says the experience of combining forces and setting up the gallery gave them all an ideal opportunity to focus and get involved in smaller works.
Colin was recently invited to exhibit his prints at the Gravure Passion exhibition, held triennially in Paris, and sold eight of the ten works he sent over.
For Colin, the experience of managing the new Aorere Arts gallery and finishing the final touches on the building has been particularly exciting.
“It’s been big right from the start, even the piles we had to sink down six metres. None of us have been into retail before like this, so we’ve also been lucky to have Merrill’s business experience and PR skills on board.”
Aorere Arts will be open for business every day over summer from 10am to 5pm.
Gerard Hindmarsh
